Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

21 year old sprint car rookie Darren Pifer will undergo skin grafts on his ankles tomorrow at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was life flighted there after suffering burns over 23% of his body when the fuel line came apart and his car erupted in flames. His ankles were burned the worst. Thank God he was wearing a three layer firesuit and full nomex including socks, or this could have been so much worse. 

Sportsmans Speedway in Knox, PA had no fire crew or fire truck on hand. His Dad had to run by t-shirt wearing track crew who just stood there and watched Darren burning and put out the flames on his suit with his personal fire extinguisher.

Please keep The Beast in your thoughts and prayers.

If there was no fire crew or fire truck on hand, why were they racing??  Obviously the brave actions of Doug Wolfgang and his negligence lawsuit settlement didn't have any affect here.  There's a lot of guilt to spread around with a situation like this.

It was a normal race night at Sportsmans. 

A Sprint car race with no fire crew!!!! Wow.  Glad the kid made it out alive.

Why were they racing?   Because racing people never really learn the lesson.  I guarantee you that there are plenty of tracks around the country operating this way.   Everybody makes safety a high priority for a very short time after someone is critically burned, then after that short time is over it's right back to normal.    And whose fault is it?    The racers themselves.   If you go to a track and they don't have the proper safety equipment, then don't race there.    

You know I used to go along with the thinking that "its the racers own fault for racing if there is no fire or safety crew". I have changed my view on that and I fully blame the track operators. How in the hell can you collect admission from race teams and fans but not provide the basic element of a safety crew?? It's the year 2014 for @*!# sake! How backwoods hillbilly sleazeball do you have to be to run a race track without a fire/safety crew? Outrageous! Shit like this is what will make racing be under more scrutiny than it should be. Cheap ass promoters only looking out for their own wallet, shame on you assholes!

Cheers!

This is Rod Pifer, Darren`s dad. This was our very first night racing at sportsmans. Had we known there was no fire crew, we would not have raced. Darren noticed a fuel leak by his right foot, and stopped the car, and the fuel ignighted. He has trouble getting the steering wheel off, and the track crew had no idea he was on fire. I took our push 4 wheeler across the track yelling to the crew that he was on fire. One person said he wasn`t because he didnt see any flames. I sprayed his legs with my own fire extinguisher on the 4 wheeler.

I hope noone ever had to go through this, especially seeing your own son on fire. Darren will be out of the car for 3-6 months, but will be looking forward to getting back to other tracks as a spectator.

Please keep Darren in your prayers for a quick recovery.

Henry you are absolutely correct.  What really upsets me is that, events like this latest one get lots of attention and media press.  if the Feds or States governments ever decide that these tracks are more of a business than hobby, they will take over the regulation of them and they will fall under OSHA or some other agency.  Can you imagine someone not related to racing,  developing rules and regulations governing our sport?  We, the promoters and sanctioning groups need to police our own, not outsiders!!  As I recall, doesn't New Jersey already regulate all tracks?  Do we want that everywhere?

Rod told me Darren had his skin graft surgery this morning. All went well. In defense of guys like Darren who have not competed at Sportsmans. They used to keep the fire truck and ambulance off turn one out of view of the competitors. It would not be out of the ordinary for drivers to think the fire truck was there.

Thats right Mike, I saw the ambulance, and thought the fire dept. was there as well.

Here is a quote from Sportsman Speedway (I have to assume it is an employee but I don't know):

"Ted Albertineambulance is at track whenever they race. some of the center crew vfd. dont armchair quarterback unless you were on scene. any accident has confusion in its earliest stages. center crew did an excellent job with situation"

I would have to side with the boys father, he would know best.  If standing there letting him burn and his father using his own extinguisher is an excellent job, I would stay as far away from that place as possible.

Always hate to hear of someone getting injured.  Good luck to the young man.

Unfortunately this scenario is all too familiar at a lot of tracks.  I'd venture to say that MOST don't have a fire/safety crew armed and ready for action.  I commend the ones that do. 

Having never been a promoter I don't know all the particulars.  But I've always thought they should be able to find a few volunteer fireman in the area that would love to be involved.  A lot of those guys like racing and would probably be glad to be a part of it.  Just a couple who have some training and are standing by ready to go would be a huge improvement over having no one.  I'd think a promoter could also find a sponsor or two that would be willing to help provide some equipment.  A local trade school would probably be happy to build some sort of vehicle that could be used.  I don't expect all tracks to have a goup like Knoxville but would it really be that hard to come up with something without having to spend a lot??

Having a Fire Department at the track does ZERO good if they don't know how to fight (or are un-equipped) an alcohol fire or racing fuel fire.

Just because a track hires the local Fire Department (that are trained to take care of most building fires and some automobile fires (although I've only ever seen them "contain" and automobile fire, I've never seen them fight one or extenguish one)) doessn't mean that they are PREPARED and TRAINED to fight a racing fuel/alcohol fire.  Even with a Fire Department on-site, sadly this incident may have still occurred.

TRAINING IS KEY.  WITHOUT IT, THEY ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER PERSON NEAR THE SCENE.

Well Duh....   Obviously they need the right equipment and some know how.  That's part of it.  I still don't think it would cost a track all that much to be better prepared than many are now.

That wasn't my point.  MANY fans assume that because there is a firetruck on site that the fire crew is competent.  That is not necessarily the case was my point.

You could hire full-time firefighters from a large city (I'll use DesMoines since I live in Iowa) and have them bring their equipment and they are as useful as I am (none of us are TRAINED to fight an alcohol or racecar fire).  They may spray the fire with water and just spread the fire out instead of extenguishing it with the foam or correct fire extenguisher.

You can take a group of volunteers and have them TRAINED to fight an alcohol / racecar fire and they will be better suited to be the fire-crew at a track than MOST full-time firefighters would be.

My main point is that just because there is a firetruck or a fire crew on site doesn't mean that the drivers/teams are ANY safer.  It's up to the tracks, sanctioning bodies, TEAMS, DRIVERS, FANS and as much as I hate to say it, Insurance Companies to DEMAND better fire/rescue personnel be on-site @ racing events.

Unfortunately, NO ONE has learned anything from drivers being burned (Wolfgang is the main example because he is the highest profile driver) as MOST tracks and sanctioning bodies have done NOTHING to better equip or staff their fire/rescue crew.  Some day maybe, but I'm afraid it will be after a major catastrophe and the states decide they need to "regulate" racing.  I don't want that day to come, but unless you help yourself by doing the right things, it's just a matter of time IMO.

For the Record, Full-time firefighters are highly trained individuals that put their life on the line, but they are TRAINED to fight structure fires.  I believe if you ask them they will tell you that their training is what makes them good fire-fighters, it has nothing to do with doing it full-time for a living (some volunteers are just as good at fighting fires).

Darren is finally back in his room after his surgery. I ask that everyone please do not turn this into a bashing post, but to continue to pray for Darren`s recovery. He will be in hospital for atleast another week. We thank everyone for their calls, and messages. Darren will be able to race again, and we hope this experience will help this from happening to anyone again and we all learn from it.

Darren said " I would not wish what I am going through on anyone, but from this negative will come a positive"

Thank you again

Rod Pifer

why do people still think that putting water on an alcohol fuel fire spreads it?

water is one of the ways to put out an alcohol fire. it may not be the best way, but it sure doesn't hurt if it is just alcohol.

water and alcohol mix. water dilutes alcohol. alcohol won't float on top of water and spread like gas.

to indy and beyond!!

Thanks for your posts. Praying that your son has a full recovery.

All I have to say is I'm glad he is safe now and on the road to recovery. i also have to say that I will only race at tracks with a trained fire crew after I had my car catch on fire at Knoxville this year. The fire crew was at my car before I got out and put it out quickly. 

TJ Peterson

Again, I stated it's about TRAINING. 

If they use a retardent that is not capable of extenguishing an alcohol or methanol or racing fuel fires they are as worthless at a track as I am as a firefighter.

I do not claim not do I know what is used to fight that type of fire, what I do know is that using the wrong type of extenquishing material does ZERO good.  Same goes for other types of fires, that's why they have different types of fire extenguishers too.  They don't all work on all types of fires.

Back to the Topic.

Glad to hear that Darren is doing well following his skin graft surgury and hope he has a speedy and safe recovery (infection is now the enemy, keep that area clean and a watchful eye on it once he's released from the hospital).